In December, the ARRL Executive Committee reviewed grant applications for the ARRL’s Education & Technology Program (ETP), awarding equipment and resources valued at nearly $7000 to five schools. Two types of grants are awarded: ETP Grants and Progress Grants.

ETP School Station Grants

Grants for school radio stations are awarded to schools that provide a plan to use Amateur Radio as part of an enrichment program and/or as part of in classroom learning. The following schools recently received ETP equipment and resource grants at a total estimated cost of $6000:

Taft Middle School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Teachers at this school have a two-fold interest: Providing a high altitude ballooning program and participating in an ARISS contact with astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The school has the support of a local Amateur Radio club. Based on the evidence of the support provided by the local ham radio community, commitment of the school administration and the strength of the plan as outlined in the grant application, the school will receive a basic VHF station to get its program going and support its high altitude balloon tracking efforts.

Roosevelt Junior High School, Roosevelt, Utah: This school requested equipment to support a school club with an emphasis on satellites and the goal of an ARISS contact. The lead teacher on the grant application is licensed and a graduate of the TI program.

Mill Springs Academy, Alpharetta, Georgia: The Amateur Radio program at this special education school focuses on student licensure, applying for an ARISS contact and participating in School Club Roundup. The program, as outlined in the grant application, anticipates extensive outside help from the local ham community.

Progress Grants

The purpose of the ETP Progress Grant is to offer modest resource support to teachers who are currently using Amateur Radio as an instructional tool in their classrooms and who need additional resources for specific purposes. The following schools received equipment and resource Progress Grants at a total estimated cost of $700:

Curtis A. Strange Elementary School, Kenosha, Wisconsin: The application requested support to start a STEM program base on the Sea Perch ROV platform, carrying the remote sensor package suite being developed for a future ETP Teachers Institute 2 Remote Sensing program. This school wants to build a remote sensing component that includes all of the pillars of the ETP: basic electronics, microcontroller programming and the science of radio. The school will receive one Sea Perch and the associated electronics cards, with a condition that one of the teachers involved in this program attend a TI session this summer as part of the training on how to use the resources in the classroom.

Delcastle Technical High School, Wilmington, Delaware: The applicant, a TI graduate who teaches electronics, requested 15 of the 5 Building Blocks circuit boards used in the TI to instruct the science of radio content. The students will populate these circuit boards as part of the soldering instruction they receive, then use the populated boards to support the science of radio instruction unit that mirrors what is taught during the TI.

A central goal of the ETP is to develop a foundation of wireless technology literacy among America’s teachers and students. It employs Amateur Radio to explore radio science and electronics and provide hands-on activities that engage students’ minds and imaginations, opening doorways into math, science and technology curriculum topics, as well as other core curriculum areas such as geography and language arts.

More than 500 schools and 600 teachers across the country have received support from the ETP in the form of grants for equipment, curriculum and resources, as well as teacher in-service training through the Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology (TI). Applications for equipment and resource grants are accepted twice each year; application deadlines are May 1 and November 1.